Human factors in clinical handover: development and testing of a 'handover performance tool' for doctors' shift handovers

Abstract

Communication determined the majority of handover quality. Teamwork and situation awareness also provided an independent contribution to the overall quality rating. The HPT has demonstrated good validity and reliability providing evidence that it can be easily used by raters with different backgrounds and in several clinical settings. The HPT could be utilized to assess doctors' handover quality systematically, as well as teaching tool in medical schools or in continuing professional development programmes for self-reflective practice.